James Burton prepares to lead the Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Conducting the Tanglewood Festival Chorus appears to be a satisfying and rewarding job – the last guy who held the position was there for 45 years.

He was the beloved John Oliver, who founded the position in 1970 and retired at the end of 2015 season. After an extensive and exhaustive two-year search, the BSO recently named James Burton the new conductor of the TFC. He’ll also hold the newly created post of BSO choral director.

Burton may have proven his commitment to the job just by accepting the position; he, his wife and three kids are in the process of relocating from Oxfordshire, England.

“I think, if you work as a musician, you understand that the jobs don’t necessarily come to you,” says Burton. “You understand that the big repertoire gets done in big cities with big orchestras.”

Burton and his family haven’t yet chosen a home in the Boston area, but that can’t stop him from diving into work. The Tanglewood season launches on June 17, and the chorus makes its first appearance on July 7 with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”), at the BSO’s summer home in Lenox.

When asked to appraise the strengths and weaknesses of the TFC, Burton says it’s a little too soon for that kind of a review. He then adds with a laugh, “Did you spot the diplomatic answer?”

But Burton does have some big ideas, and they revolve around community engagement.

“I wonder if some of the people who come to see a concert, when they go home, do they sing to themselves?” asks Burton. “I would love to give them the chance to come sing here. Singing shouldn’t be something that’s inaccessible.”

He tried it when he was the choral director at the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, England.

“We invited the general public to come sing in the hall,” he says. “We had 1,400 people show up the first time. Those people had never dreamt of singing with a professional group in that hall. It was the most glorious event.”

There are plenty of people in the Boston area who know the glory of singing in a world-class concert hall. The volunteer singers with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus perform not only in Lenox, but also in Symphony Hall, in Boston. For some of those who have joined the group, it’s a life-altering experience. That passion is reflected in the number of TFC singers – more than 300 current members. And the tenures of some singers may be even more impressive – many have been singing with TFC for decades, some all the way back to its founding in 1970.

“Singing in a chorus, you feel part of a whole,” says Eric Chan, a 32-year-old web developer from Quincy and a singer with TFC since 2014. “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Singing is very visceral – your body vibrates. In a big chorus, that visceral feeling is even stronger. And you know that everyone else is experiencing the same thing, so it creates this tremendous camaraderie. It’s almost a spiritual experience.”

Brian Robinson of Newton was in medical school in 1991 when he decided to audition for TFC on a whim. He says he wasn’t nervous in his audition, because he wasn’t that invested in the outcome. But 25 years later, he knows the experience has enriched him both creatively and socially.

“I have some very dear lifelong friends that I’ve sung with for years,” he says.

One of those friends is John Oliver, the previous conductor. Robinson remembers Oliver’s ability “to illicit a sound from the chorus by being very descriptive of what he’s looking for.”

Robinson is also enthusiastic about the arrival of Burton, who has already led the TFC in a number of concerts.

“He’s an outstanding choice,” says Robinson. “From the first time we worked with him, you could see he had that spark that’s so important, that kind of personality that connects with the chorus.”

Connection – it may be a hallmark of the Burton tenure, whether it lasts 45 years, or not.

“I want to enliven the singing,” says Burton. “I want the community at large to feel like the Boston Symphony Orchestra is their symphony orchestra, and I’m very excited about the prospect of doing that.”

Audition tips

Have you ever wondered about joining the Tanglewood Festival Chorus? Well, this may not be the ideal time to seek an audition; new TFC conductor James Burton is a little busy with his move from England to Boston and the Tanglewood season, which is fast approaching.

“However,” says Burton, “the shop is shortly to open.”

If you’ve been thinking about auditioning for the TFC, here are some tips from those who know the process.

Consider taking lessons: Joining the TFC was so important to Quincy resident Eric Chan that he took a year of voice lessons in preparation. It worked. “The lessons were a huge help,” he says. “It’s very difficult to judge your own singing objectively. What you hear in your head is different than what someone else hears. Lessons improved my ability to recognize if I’m singing on pitch.”

Be you: “So many young singers make the mistake of trying to sound like someone they’re not,” says Burton. “Subconsciously, they’re trying to recreate someone they admire. But that’s not an honest sound. Sing the way you’d sing your baby to sleep.”

Fight the nerves: Chan admits he was “extremely” nervous when he auditioned for the TFC, “but I concentrated on expressing the music as best I could, rather than trying to present myself. That mindset made it less nerve-racking.”

If at first you don’t succeed…: “If it doesn’t work the first time, don’t give up,” says Burton. “Some people who audition haven’t been to an audition in 20 years, or ever! It’s unrealistic to expect that you’ll always succeed on your first attempt.”